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Trailer Tail

Nastymind

By Nastymind
in Non-Fishing Chat

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Nastymind Newbie

Nastymind

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Just thought I'd share a story with you all. Might give you a laugh.

I'm one who looks after my stuff by the bible. My trailer bearings get changed once a year and repacked every 6 months.

One day last year my mates and I were towing our boats from Townsville to Lucinda for a nights fishing at Bramble reef.

Before we even got there we noticed a hell of alot of movement in both my wheel bearings. With the smell of the ocean and the unforgiving urge to catch a big red, I decided we'd worry about it when we returned. (mistake number 1)

So out we went. What a great trip we had. Not enough fish to boast about, but a heap of fun for sure. The water clarity in the afternoon was amazing, as was the view above the water. The lucinda Jetty, Palm Island and Hichinbrook Island made an awesome backdrop as our boats took off, out to sea at full throttle.

We fished and drank well into the night, until my mates Mrs in the other boat started throwing up. She's a real bitch so i laughed my arse off at her over the VHF.

We had intended to stay the whole night but were all looking a bit hard done by. So by 2am we were back at Dungeoness Boatramp and ready to have a look at my trailer bearings(in the rain).

Too easy I thought. I have spares in the back of the forby. Well, I was half right. I only had one spare. (mistake number 2)

We changed one side while we waited for RACQ. Then he arrived to tell us there is nothing he can do for us. So after giving him my share of Lippers (Sweetlips that is, not something dirty), we had succesfully convinced him to go home, remove the bearings from his own trailer and bring them back to us.

By 5am we were back on the road and on our way home.

Although freezing cold and wet, by 5:15am, I was asleep in the passanger seat. We were in the middle of cane fields in Halifax when some wheel studs snapped, the wheel fell off and we skidded about 100m on, then off, the wet road.

It was still dark, raining, we were soaking wet, cold, tired, hungry, stuck in the middle of nowhere and we had no phone credit. We were really in a jiffy.

To cut this story short, we never got home till about 4:00pm that afternoon.

I'm fortunate to have such a great Father and to have met such an awesome RACQ driver.

Since then, i've rebuilt my trailer into a tandem. It cost me $2600 but is worth every cent. I check my bearings alot more often too.

I'll try and post some photos with this story. I hope it works. You can see how the boat launched forward and was held on by the safety chain. [img size=448]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/103_0341.JPG

post-915-144598412142_thumb.jpg

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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Very lucky.

But the studs breaking would have been a separate problems from the bearings!

Were they rusted through, or did you have the wrong rims fitted - its quite common for trailers to have wrong rims fitted particularly when using holden HQ stud pattern. The commodore pattern is only a smidgen off, but if fitted will eventually shear of the studs.

see here if anyone is interested in the technical bumpf.

http://oldholden.com/possible/index.php/Stud_Patterns

It is also quite common for the centre holes of trailer wheels to be the wrong size for the hubs, meaning the trailer weight is taken by the studs not the hub centre. Generally you get away with this one on a trailer, but if you boat was heavy enough to benefit from a tandem setup, it could also have been the cause of stud breakage.

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Nastymind Newbie

Nastymind

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Absolutely. It's only hit salt water once since it's rebuild but it'll definately be getting a twice over before it rolls again.

We were fishing Bramble Reef. It's the closest of the Great Barrier. Roughly 22nm offshore.

Here is a pic of that. The conditions were glorious [img size=448]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/51710001.JPG

post-915-144598412166_thumb.jpg

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Lozzel Newbie

Lozzel

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Yep, I think thats the place we fished when we stayed there, Most of our trips were from cardwell NE & E of hinchenbrook.

You had good weather, Our last trip to lucinda spent a week in the creeks and channel. Too windy and raining ,Couldnt even get out along the ship loader.

Nice JACKS & Barra though.

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